In Miracles Stories of the Early Christian Tradition Professor Theissen looks in turn at the structure, reproduction and function of miracle stories, and discovers a hidden logic and a relatively constant structure. His examination of the influences on the evolution of the stories in their oral and written forms is followed finally by a discussion of their function regard to contemporary social conditions, the development of religious movements and traditions, and to individual self consciousness. The result is a fascinating study of the synoptic miracle stories which forms a fitting counterpart to The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity and which opens up a rich field of enquiry for students of the synoptic Gospels.